It's a Miracle...

A miracle has transpired in our house....

Alexander slept for almost 12 hours - in a row!

As you all know, Alexander is not a child who requires a lot of sleep and it's very rare for him to sleep more than 10 hours at a time. But last night, he slept almost 12!

Alexander & Daddy spent the afternoon at Uncle Matt's playing outside in the snow - sledding, making snowballs. And by the time they headed home, Alexander was exhausted! He fell asleep in the car and although we tried to wake him, he was out cold! So we put him to bed at 6:30pm. He came in to sleep with Mommy around 11:30 and I thought 'uh oh' but he was practically sleep-walking and was asleep instantly. Then he slept in with Mommy until about 6am when he took his time actually waking up at about 6:20am.

Amazing!

Score one for Mom...

Mom finally wins one!

Sleeping morning that is ... This morning was Mommy's morning and I was prepared to get up incredibly early considering he woke up at 6:30am for Daddy's morning. I was also prepared for him to wake up sometime during the night and crawl into bed with us and keep me awake as well.

But I was wrong as not only did he sleep the entire night in his room, he woke up at 6:30 for the first time! Then he came into bed with us, cuddled a bit & fell back to sleep. UNTIL 8:00am!! SCORE!

Let's hope this happens a bit more frequently on the weekends!

Saturday Edition: What Happened?...

What happened to cause such a crazy sleeping schedule??? As we know, Alexander had a good/solid week of sleeping.

On Saturday, Daddy & Alexander went to play with cousin Michael. They were going to go sledding, play in the snow, have some lunch & just chill out. The boys had a great time sledding and going down the hills. And I don't know if it was the crisp New England air, but it zonked out Alexander.

He went down for a nap later than usual (probably because he was overtired). Half way through his nap he woke up crying in his sleep. I tried to calm him down or wake him up but nothing. So I picked him up and he was fine. When I tried to put him back in his bed, he screamed. So napped in Mommy's room for what I thought would be the rest of his nap.

I woke up at 6:30p surprised that Alexander was still out cold! I let him sleep for a bit wondering if I let him sleep through the night or wake him up. I woke him up but he asked to go into his room to sleep more. Okay! About 15 minutes later (now 8:45pm) he woke up wanting to get up. I figured let's get him up for a few hours, give him some food, and let him crash late which would then allow him to sleep through the majority of the wee moments of the night.

We had some cereal, played Thomas the Train, ran around with trucks, did some coloring, watched some Sesame Street youtube videos and finally headed upstairs. We read 4 books in Mommy's room and after books, he asked to go lay in his bed. After rubbing his back for a bit, he was asleep by midnight...and slept until 5:45am. Crazy, but workable wake up time!

Sleeping...

After months of waking up during the night and coming into bed with Mommy...we have had 5 consecutive nights where he slept the whole night through...and in his own bed! It started with Sunday night where he crashed hard because he did not have a nap and then slept for 10 full hours in his room.

The rest of the week he slept through the night but did nap at school, so my original thought of the nap is throwing it off is still wishy-washy. Weds, Thurs & Friday of this week he woke up at 5am but I'll take that as opposed to waking up around 1:30am and then both of us getting a rough night of sleep.

Let's hope it continues for everyone's sake!

Special Bulletin...

We interrupt the normal Monday posts to inform you that not only did Alexander get a good night sleep BUT:
- He got 10 FULL, UNINTERRUPTED hours of sleep (almost unheard of for him)
- He spent those said 10 hours in his room, in his bed, ALL NIGHT!

This is a glorious victory for all!

Sleeping with Friends...

Friday night, I realized that with the chaos of a "Friday night", I almost forgot to take my daily pictures of Alexander. However, he was already in bed, asleep. So...instead of an awake photo-op, I went with a sleeping photo-op. This is what he & his friends look like in his crib.

New Trick...

The other night I went upstairs to check on Alexander as I typically do. He was in his normal sleeping position - on his belly with his arms tucked underneath & his feet crossed.

Only this time there was something different...his shirt was off! I know when I put him to bed he had a shirt on. At some point he not only took off his shirt but threw around all of his stuffed animals that were neatly placed around his crib.

I didn't even hear him make any commotion that night so we'll see how often this new trick occurs. We did manage to put his shirt back on him without waking him so he wouldn't get cold throughout the night (he's okay having his blankie on him as long as it doesn't cover his feet - he must get that from Daddy!)

Sleeping...

For those of you who know Alexander, you know he is an early riser. He's not a 12 hour a night sleeper. Never has been and I don't presume that will change anytime soon.

This weekend, he blew away all presumptions & expectations. Friday night, he went down quickly without fuss and was asleep by 7:15pm. This was even after his little bathtime bump. Saturday morning, he woke up a little before 6am which I can completely handle on the weekends. He & Daddy had their weekend morning walk & Dunkin' Donuts jaunt. Daddy must have worn him out because he was zoning out & rubbing his eyes. He took an hour & half nap in the morning.

After lunch, we filled up his pool and played outside as it has been incredibly hot here this weekend! He played in the pool, played soccer with Mommy & Daddy, and ran around the back yard looking for birds. Again, he was getting tired - heat & playing in the pool can do that to a little one. I put him down for a nap around 3:30pm just to see if he would lay down again. After a little bit of crying/playing in his crib, he fell asleep by 4pm.

Well...that was it from him! He was out for the ENTIRE night. A few times around 6pm, I was going to wake him because I wasn't sure if he was asleep for the night, but no one could bring themselves to wake him as he was out cold! We checked on him several times but he just kept right on sleeping.

He woke up a little before 5am this morning and got about 13 hours of sleep! And that didn't stop him from taking a 2 hour nap this morning! He will not, however, sleep this afternoon even though he really needs a nap...can we say cranky??

I'm still in shock - 13 hours?!

Milestone!

We have cause for celebration! Grab your glasses, prepare your toasts...

No, Alexander didn't take his first steps or finally get some teeth. He didn't even put together a whole sentence. What could be more amazing that that??

Alexander slept til after 7am on a Sunday!!!

Hey... I'm not one to shy away from the dramatics. But this is huge for us! He slept until 6:20am yesterday and 7:15 this morning! He's never done that and it's such a big thing for us! Neither one of us had to get up at the crack of dawn when we really just wanted to sleep.

He slept a few times til 6a this week so maybe he's passed the phase for where he needs to awake when all morning creatures do.

Twenty One Weeks

Wow - our little guy is already Twenty One Weeks old... and next week he'll be 5 months! You people sure don't lie when you say that time flies by! I can't believe how quickly it all went. But it's all been so much fun & I wouldn't change a thing.

Well ... okay... that's a lie.

I'd change the sleeping part. Especially this week. For some unknown reason, our boy wanted to get up and play @ 3am. THREE! Do you know how early that is? Especially when you've woken up every hour because he's coughing or crying... Yesterday, Dan & I were zombies. Alexander was up at 2:45am and just wouldn't go back to bed. Dan took him for 30 mins, and then I took him for 30 mins. Finally, Alexander fell asleep around 4a but his head popped back up at exactly 4:41am. I know because I was awake and I watched it. The morning before was just as bad. We weren't really looking forward to another night like that. Man, this kid sure is an early riser.

However, we were fortunate that Alexander slept for approx 10 hours last night. He went to bed around 7:30pm (which he put up a fight, something he never does) and woke up around 5:30am. Dan said he checked on him twice but Alexander didn't make a peep all night! Ahhhh glorious 7 hours of sleep for me!

Besides the sleeping, I'm also happy to report that his cold is gone. We haven't used the AC in his room so that really leads me to believe that the AC makes him sick. So he's been living just like his pauper parents - with a fan! But he doesn't seem to mind it at all, he seems comfortable. That is when he does sleep.

Another item to note is that we have been going to daycare for just over 8 weeks now and we've already been told of a tuition increase. How much does that stink?? Thankfully it's not a huge increase per month, but it's still an increase. They originally sent out the news that every family would have to sign a yearly contract Sept-Sept but tuition would be prorated for 10 months. That would have initally meant our tuition would have increased by $300 A MONTH. But we would then not have to pay for July & August. They must have gotten a lot of feedback because they're now offering the option of 10 or 12 month options. I'd rather pay a little more a month all year then $300 extra a month but with 2 months off.

The joys of daycare... it's a good thing I know he's doing very well there and that Miss Linda loves taking care of him. Otherwise, I'd be even more miserable about this whole daycare thing.

Also, I want to thank everyone who posted and sent me emails of condolences for my aunt. That was very sweet of you for remembering me and my family during this time. She meant alot to my family and she will be missed.